Tuesday, July 21

If I say “Board Games”…

…do you think “kids’ stuff”? e.g. Candyland, Chutes and Ladders

Or maybe “not if I want to stay married”? e.g. Monopoly (you’d have to ask my in-laws about that, but I’m sure you can imagine!)

If so, just wanted to let you know there’s a whole world of fun board games out there! I was reminded of that this morning, while reconnecting with a friend who now lives in Brazil but is in the States for a few months. She reminded me that she learned to play Settlers of Catan at my kitchen table many years ago and told me she has now taught it to many of her friends in Brazil, who all love it.

{all images from boardgamegeek.com}

She also told me about another game she discovered recently – which is another favorite of mine too: Carcassonne. So fun and fabulous!

So I figured today was a good day to teach her another great game, Ticket to Ride, which uses a map of the USA as the basis for its board…

…but which – due to the graphic manipulations of talented individuals around the globe – is also available using maps of variousothercountries for the game board, including Brazil!

And while I was at boardgamegeek.com, I saw that I could add a widget of “recently played games.” Notice it there in my sidebar? (How could you not – it’s hugely long!)

Sadly, our time spent boardgaming dwindled drastically when Ken started his MBA a few years ago. But now he’s almost done; I have hopes that we’ll soon be shaking dice, collecting cards, and placing tokens again on a regular basis.

But this all has got me thinking – do I initiate a regular craft night, as mentioned previously? Or a regular game night? Hmmm…

15 comments:

K, those games look like so much fun! I've never seen them before, let alone played them. We used to play this very simple one called Ulcers as kids. You had to collect a whole staff in your sales organization, and other players were constantly raiding your collection. And there was another one that wasn't board-ish, called Crack the Case - like 20 questions, but with a crime scenario. Fun. The kids are now playing Beddy Bye Baby a lot. Speaking of Bed, it's almost midnight. Am off to mine now. Have a great day tomorrow! May there be some sun.

Suz - how ironic, your lack of interest generally in games, considering who you're married to!

Omi - coming to game night involves first being in the same state as me. (And no, I'm not talking about the State of Confusion.)

Chevy - you need to try TtR. Nice because it can include anywhere from 2 to 5(!) players. (though can get quite cut-throat with just 2, perhaps putting it in the "Monopoly nearly killed our Marriage" category.)

Ah! Excellent games one and all and I would love a craft-game night. Don't suppose you live in Maine? :)

You might want to check out a game called Rico. Really simple but very addictive, especially if you like sorting. Husband is fond of a game called Agricola, which is... well, better than Advanced Civ, but not light in the rules department.

Ooh! I also recommend the games by Blue Orange to my customers at the store who have small children. Bendominos, Gobblet, CooCoo and Bingory are my faves, but all their games are great literally for all ages. They also won't make you want to tear your hair out after playing a game unlike certain sweets-themed boardgames. Plus, their production quality is fantastic.

Hi Chris -- Nope, I live in MN, which my younger self THOUGHT stood for Maine but in the meantime, I know better. Too bad... I LOVE your Blue Orange recommendations -- am just seeing them for the first time and am totally impressed. Yay, I have half my Christmas presents figured out now! : )

I've heard of Puerto Rico (another "not light in rules dept" game; clearly NOT "simple"!!!) but not Rico. And didn't find anything when I googled it either. Can you give more info?

Puerto Rico is a pieces heavy game but the rules are actually quite simple by comparison to Agricola. If you know PR, you'll understand most of the concepts of Agricola. Unlike PR, Agricola is a very different game depending on the number of people playing. I like it best using only the base game with 3 players. Husband likes it either solo or with the expanded rules and 4 or 5 players.

You couldn't find Rico because I got the name wrong. It's R-eco. It's a card game by Z-man about recycling. It's one of those games that's simple enough for the non-gamers to catch on to quickly, but has enough strategy to keep the rabid-gamers going.

Another one you should check out is called Pandemic. It's cooperative, so it's basically all the players working together against the board. It recently had an expansion come out to keep things fresh.

The new one I can't wait to try is called Tales of the Arabian Nights that just came out this week. I'll let you know if it's any good.

Thanks so much for the additional recommendations. Already read up on R-eco now but just had time for a quick scan of the other two. Pandemic sounds so interesting -- the only other cooperative game I know of is Orchard... and that's geared toward kids. And Tales sounds really interesting too.

I'd highly recommend adding a regular game review to your blog! The world needs to know. : )